La vida locavore (Week 50)
"Keep your friends close, and your farmers closer."
Good ol' Anonymous can always be counted on for the best quotes! In this case, Anonymous really nailed it for the week I spent following the 100 Mile Diet. Some of the inspiration also came from author Barbara Kingsolver, who ate locally for a year and wrote a book about it: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Unlike Kingsolver, who produced 70% of her food from a farm in Virginia, I was going to have to do this thehard expensive way. That meant shopping for it.
Val and I are really lucky to live in one of the few places in Canada where we can get farm-fresh produce, meat, cheese, beer, wine and more within 160 kilometres of our house. And so the week began at The Old Farm Market and The Root Cellar. Both are known for their stock of local goods. And yes, both are very spendy.
I specifically chose the month of January for this challenge, because it's a lot tougher to do in the middle of winter than during the season of plenty. And by plenty, I mean plenty of farmer's markets. Again, we're really lucky in that regard, because our home in Esquimalt is only two blocks from the Best Mid-Sized Farmers Market in British Columbia. But it closes for the winter months, leaving us to forage further afield.
Another great spot in Victoria is Farm + Field, a butcher and cheese shop that specializes in goods from Vancouver Island. I checked to make sure my credit limit was safe before opening those doors.
Finally, we filled in the remainder of our local stuff from our nearby Country Grocer store, and from the Tudor House liquor store. If you don't know already, Vancouver Island is home to some of the best beer, wine, mead and spirits you'll find anywhere. There's even a sweet vermouth made in our own neighbourhood, and of course it's called Esquimalt Vermouth.
Here's a shopping list for our week, along with distances:
Potatoes (Saanich) - 15km
Green beans (Saanich) - 15km
Ambrosia apples (Saanich) - 15km
Ground pork (Metchosin) - 30km
Duck salami (Metchosin) - 30km
Cowichan Pasta Co ravioli (Cowichan Valley) - 80km
Rocky View Wild Blackberry wine (Cowichan Valley) - 80km
Hoyne Dark Matter beer (Victoria) - 4km
Esquimalt Vermouth (Esquimalt) - 2km
Island Farms milk (Victoria) - 4km
Coyote coffee (Parksville) - 141km
Hard Bite chips (Surrey) - 122km
Hungry Rooster perogies (Nanaimo) - 114km
Now, let's talk about reasons for following a local food diet, beyond the perverse desire to empty your bank account.
It's no surprise that eating local means adopting a healthier diet. When farmers don't have to douse their products in preservatives to get them to your table, you're automatically removing that nasty stuff from your internal workings. There's also the higher likelihood of you buying more fruits and vegetables (sadly, oranges and bananas will never be local offerings for us). There's also the goodness of supporting your local businesses, and the idea that a rising tide lifts all ships. The biggest one for a lot of people, though, is reducing the excessive carbon footprint that comes with transportation of food. When up to 30% of a household's footprint comes from food consumption, you can imagine how significant the impact is when you reduce that to nearly zero.
Sure, there's a hefty price to pay. But nobody said saving the planet was going to be cheap!
NEXT WEEK: Adopting a rescue pooch from Mexico!
Good ol' Anonymous can always be counted on for the best quotes! In this case, Anonymous really nailed it for the week I spent following the 100 Mile Diet. Some of the inspiration also came from author Barbara Kingsolver, who ate locally for a year and wrote a book about it: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Unlike Kingsolver, who produced 70% of her food from a farm in Virginia, I was going to have to do this the
Val and I are really lucky to live in one of the few places in Canada where we can get farm-fresh produce, meat, cheese, beer, wine and more within 160 kilometres of our house. And so the week began at The Old Farm Market and The Root Cellar. Both are known for their stock of local goods. And yes, both are very spendy.
I specifically chose the month of January for this challenge, because it's a lot tougher to do in the middle of winter than during the season of plenty. And by plenty, I mean plenty of farmer's markets. Again, we're really lucky in that regard, because our home in Esquimalt is only two blocks from the Best Mid-Sized Farmers Market in British Columbia. But it closes for the winter months, leaving us to forage further afield.
Another great spot in Victoria is Farm + Field, a butcher and cheese shop that specializes in goods from Vancouver Island. I checked to make sure my credit limit was safe before opening those doors.
Finally, we filled in the remainder of our local stuff from our nearby Country Grocer store, and from the Tudor House liquor store. If you don't know already, Vancouver Island is home to some of the best beer, wine, mead and spirits you'll find anywhere. There's even a sweet vermouth made in our own neighbourhood, and of course it's called Esquimalt Vermouth.
Here's a shopping list for our week, along with distances:
Potatoes (Saanich) - 15km
Green beans (Saanich) - 15km
Ambrosia apples (Saanich) - 15km
Ground pork (Metchosin) - 30km
Duck salami (Metchosin) - 30km
Cowichan Pasta Co ravioli (Cowichan Valley) - 80km
Rocky View Wild Blackberry wine (Cowichan Valley) - 80km
Hoyne Dark Matter beer (Victoria) - 4km
Esquimalt Vermouth (Esquimalt) - 2km
Island Farms milk (Victoria) - 4km
Coyote coffee (Parksville) - 141km
Hard Bite chips (Surrey) - 122km
Hungry Rooster perogies (Nanaimo) - 114km
Now, let's talk about reasons for following a local food diet, beyond the perverse desire to empty your bank account.
It's no surprise that eating local means adopting a healthier diet. When farmers don't have to douse their products in preservatives to get them to your table, you're automatically removing that nasty stuff from your internal workings. There's also the higher likelihood of you buying more fruits and vegetables (sadly, oranges and bananas will never be local offerings for us). There's also the goodness of supporting your local businesses, and the idea that a rising tide lifts all ships. The biggest one for a lot of people, though, is reducing the excessive carbon footprint that comes with transportation of food. When up to 30% of a household's footprint comes from food consumption, you can imagine how significant the impact is when you reduce that to nearly zero.
Sure, there's a hefty price to pay. But nobody said saving the planet was going to be cheap!
NEXT WEEK: Adopting a rescue pooch from Mexico!
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